F1 Academy debuts in Singapore this weekend for round five of the 2024 season.
With just three rounds of the Championship remaining, Aurielia Nobels, Chloe Chambers and Lola Lovinfosse reflect on their season so far, their goals for the remaining race weekends as well as breaking down their thoughts ahead of the series’ first visit to Singapore.
“I had quite a tough start to the season,” said Nobels.
“I feel like the pace and the speed was there, but I was just very unlucky. After the summer break, starting in Zandvoort, was the best result, […] so that was really good for confidence as well.”
The mixed conditions in Zandvoort were an advantage to Nobels, with the driver gaining six points in Race One and ten points in Race Two.
Nobels currently stands ninth in the overall Standings, with Chambers in third and Lovinfosse in thirteenth.
Singapore Preparations
This weekend is the first year that F1 Academy has visited Singapore, with the heat and humidity being defining factors across the race weekend.
“I was training a lot in the sauna with Maya [Weug] just to prepare for the heat,” said Nobels.
“It was quite tough, but I think I’m ready. I’m quite used to hot conditions because in Brazil it’s always really hot and Italy as well.”
“I’ve been doing my normal thing at home, didn’t do any heat specific training or anything,” said Chambers.
“I was here a couple of years ago with W Series so I kind of know what to expect and I feel pretty good about the heat. I don’t really struggle with it so much, it’s not a big point for me.”
Chambers competed in the 2022 W Series season, racing for Jenner Racing alongside Jamie Chadwick, finishing the season in Singapore where she placed eleventh.
‘Of course, any time on track prior to a race weekend helps. This is a pretty difficult track to learn, I found that out in W Series pretty quickly. There’s a lot of corners, a lot of characteristics on this track that are different from other tracks, so you really have to learn everything just in that one practice session,” said Chambers.
“Now we’re here, different series, slightly modified layout and a different car, different tyres so the driving aspect will be different but the track knowledge is there so I will be able to go into practice with a little bit extra knowledge there.”
Looking Ahead
With just three more race weekends to complete in the 2024 F1 Academy Championship, Nobels, Chambers and Lovinfosse look ahead to what they hope to achieve during the remainder of the season.
“My goal is to just keep progressing and especially focus on qualifying because starting at the front helps quite a lot for the races,” said Nobels.
“I think for the rest of the year for me, I need to continue on scoring points each round hopefully until the end of the year so that I’m somewhere in the top three still,” said Chambers
“I’m entering Singapore in a battle for third in the Championship, but I think top three for the rest of the year is definitely doable, getting a few more podiums, a few more wins, that would be ideal for me.”
“For me, I would say I’m hoping for a podium,” said Lovinfosse.
This is Lovinfosse’s second year competing in F1 Academy, although it is the driver’s first year being backed by Charlotte Tilbury Racing for Rodin Motorsport.
“It makes it a lot more special. When my team announced it to me, they announced it with the livery itself, so I was not expecting this at all. It’s been such a good journey with the team so far […] and we [Lola Lovinfosse and Charlotte Tilbury] are sharing something together,” said Lovinfosse.
“She has been fighting so much to get where she is today and that’s what I’m trying to do to reach my goals, so we have a really good connection and to be representing this partnership […] is just an incredible feeling.”
The Waiting Game
With the final two rounds of the 2024 F1 Academy season taking place on 29-01 December and 06-08 December, there is a two-month period without the series. For these drivers, it is important to exercise a strong mental attitude, whilst maintaining strong physical capabilities in this break.
“I think it’s important to take those long breaks as a reset but also make sure you keep a foot on racing,” said Lovinfosse.
“For us, we have many simulator days planned and even at home, I can take one or two hours at my computer, analysing data, videos. It’s really important to keep a physical activity, to go training every week like we’re used to doing and myself, now I’m working with Formula 1 in Paddock Club so that’s also something that helps me to keep a foot in the F1 paddock.”
“For me it’s a similar case,” said Chambers.
“I continue on doing what I do at home with my physical training, I go on the sim every so often. I will usually go out to the Campos workshop a week or so before each event, so I’ll do a few days of sim there as well.”
Although the large gaps between certain races also bring a set of benefits to drivers.
“To be honest, I like the gaps because I get to go home to the US, so I get to spend time with my family at home,” said Chambers.
“I love racing as well so I would like to race as much as possible but at the same time we do have testing days between now and the next round in Qatar, so we are able to keep busy.”
“You guys can only see the big gaps that we have in between the races but we have so much going on between the races,” said Lovinfosse.
“We open all the doors and get all the opportunities we can get in other categories so time flies in between. Those gaps can also be really helpful because with this being the first year we go to such a difficult track like Singapore […], the prep is requesting a lot of time, so I don’t think the balance is too bad this year.”
The F1 Academy drivers continue the Championship fight this weekend in Singapore.
Featured Image Credit: Haas F1 Team
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